A video showing a male police officer slapping a 14-year-old girl resisting arrest in Accrington, Lancashire has been viewed two million times on Facebook

The chief constable of Lancashire gave his full support yesterday to one of his officers who was filmed slapping and pulling the hair of a teenage girl as she resisted arrest.

The altercation between the officer and the 14-year-old girl was filmed on a phone by a passer-by in Accrington, Lancashire, on Monday and has been viewed more than two million times after being uploaded to Facebook.

Andy Rhodes, of Lancashire police, defended the officer, who appeared to pull the girl’s hair and slap her as she resisted arrest, although the force has admitted that the restraint techniques “may look shocking to untrained onlookers”. An investigation is under way.

The shaky footage from the video shows two police officers grappling with the teenager, as they…

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